Lady GaGa: The Fame (Boston Phoenix, 10/22/08)

It seems so long ago now, that brief time in the late ’90s when virginal Britneys and Xtinas uttered chaste vows to members of high-profile boy bands in a Garden of Eden littered with Catholic school-girl outfits and Grammy nominations. And it’s high time we acknowledged that we are now living after the fall: if the newest crop of aspiring pop divas is any indication, the gloves are off and promiscuity is back. Stefania Gabriella Germanotta a/k/a Lady GaGa (like the Queen ’80s hit “Radio GaGa” — she cites Freddie Mercury as a key influence) has a similar backstory to those Mouseketeers mentioned above: a precocious childhood filled with high-profile gigs and early involvement from major-label heavies. “Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick/I want to take a ride on your disco stick” (from “Love Game”) might be the trashiest-yet-awesomest refrain I’ve heard on a major-label record this year. With production help from DJ Space Cowboy, the mastermind behind Nadia Oh’s criminally ignored smut-diva magnum opus Hot like Wow, GaGa ups the ante in terms of catchy songwriting and sheer high-in-the-club-banging-to-the-beat abandon. “I’m not loose, I like to party/Let’s get lost in your Ferrari” from “Boys Boys Boys” seems like an inversion of Mötley Crüe, and so do the descending pianos of “Brown Eyes,” the song’s “Home Sweet Home” vibe being completed with its glam guitar dénouement.